Barry Judge, CMO of Best Buy, created a video called "The Future is Digital". He presents the story of how Best Buy evolved from a position of low price leader using mass marketing to more of an ongoing marketing conversation. The messages are customized and personal, and you talk with customers, not at customers.

Media consumption changes are blurring the boundaries between the old and the new, as TV viewing is either delayed or online; print now offers its content in print and digital form; and online activities are leveraged for both online and offline sales goals. Once you controlled the conversation, now you are part of the conversation.

Judge explains the need for change from a broadcast mode to a listening mode, and how “gleaning what people want” is the key to Best Buy’s success. Best Buy is a store that sells technology, but he wisely realized that technology is not what people really want. They have dreams and technology enables the realization of their dreams.

Moving to a world that is customized and personal requires being where our customers are and capturing what they are doing, saying and what they think. Technology has enabled this ability to listen, but it takes a lot more than technology to anticipate and help customers get what they need most. Barry says, “people tell their dreams to people they trust.” As marketers operating in traditional and now digital channels, we need to be in the business of cultivating trust.

Best Buy has a website and stores where people can experience what they can do with the products they sell. If Best Buy has listened to their customers, they incorporate these preferences into their traditional marketing spaces and provide the “dream support” that bridges the gap between digital and traditional — or what I like to call “tradigital.”

Do More With Your Data.

SIGMA Marketing Insights is a boutique marketing services firm obsessed with the customer experience, and driven to turn data into a powerful tool that will deliver more relevant, personalized interaction and engagement across all channels.